Pool running as the sole form of interval training?

(Tim) said:

Has anyone used pool running as their SOLE source of interval training? If so, how successful was
it in increasing your racing speed? I've done a bit of pool running in the past with a belt, but it
was all at an easy to moderate pace for an extended period of time and was done during an achilles
injury. I'm less interested in hearing from runners who maintained their base level of fitness by
pool running or even those who maintained some degree of speed by pool running through an injury
(although I'm happy for all of you). I'm most interested in hearing from anyone who might have used
pool running to START a speed training program and what your results were.

I guess I don't qualify to answer but.... I didn't use pool running to START a program and I
didn't use it to just maintain either. I have used it as a break to regular interval running
to do exactly as you mentioned, prevent injury. When I start to feel things "tighten up" or
the "twinges" start to form I will occasional move to the pool. I have heard of a female
marathoner, can't remember who, who did nearly all of there long and interval workouts in
the pool due to injury except the last 3-4 weeks before taper apparently had good success

Here's my results.

Pro's - Less Stress Serious Hip flexor workout/strengthing Intervals in the pool maintained possible
increased fitness although I can't say with 100% accuracy as the period of time I do them are not
exclusive or long enough to make the determination.

Cons- Muscles tendons don't get acclimated to the pounding Running form/economy not trained.
Training slightly different muscles. Slightly more difficult to raise HR

In my experiance, longest pool exclusive pool sessions 4-5 weeks including long and interval
runs, I can get some performance increase. However it does not match what I generally gain
training the same amount on the road. Also after the pool sessions it seems to takes a
period of time before I can go "All out" on the road without a degree of discomfort. This
may be a little offset by the fact that you plan on doing your long runs on the road.

~Matt

Quoted message said:

I'm a mid-40's runner who has achilles and hip problems when doing intervals and tempo runs. Easy
distance on the road is no problem, but when I try to gradually introduce some uptempo running (or
hills) I get the familiar "what-are-you-try-to-do-to-us" pains in the achilles and hip. I wear
orthotics to control pronation and I do hip stretching and strengthening exercises, but to no
avail. I will continue to run easy on the roads, but I have a desire to get my 5K time below 20:00
and my 8:30-9:00 pace on the roads won't get me there.

I know many runners have used pool running DURING injuries. My approach would be to use pool
running to PREVENT them from occurring. But this would only be satisfactory to me if the pool
interval training translated into faster racing times. If it didn't, I might as well stick with my
easy runs on the road and forget the pool.

The pool running would likely consist of a warm-up, intervals (equivalent effort of 400 m in around
1:30 to mimic a 6:00 pace), and cool-down. I would ladder up the number of intervals starting with
a few to eventually doing 20 or so. I would apply all the basic principles of interval training,
but would subtract the road and add a pool.

Some potential disadvantages that I see include:
- Lower HR than road running
- My form might not be the same as if I was running on the roads, therefore I might not get as
much benefit in the "running economy" department

Anyone with experience in this area? Thanks!!!

Tim

I belong to LifeTime Fitness (lifetimefitness.comlifetimefitness.comOpen ↗) and they have pool running some of
their clubs. From people who I talk to the exercise can be good vo2max training. I would recommend
it especially training with a group.

"Tim" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

MJuric wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Here's my results.

Pro's - Less Stress Serious Hip flexor workout/strengthing Intervals in the pool maintained
possible increased fitness although I can't say with 100% accuracy as the period of time I do them
are not exclusive or long enough to make the determination.

Cons- Muscles tendons don't get acclimated to the pounding Running form/economy not trained.
Training slightly different muscles. Slightly more difficult to raise HR

In my experiance, longest pool exclusive pool sessions 4-5 weeks including long and interval
runs, I can get some performance increase. However it does not match what I generally gain
training the same amount on the road. Also after the pool sessions it seems to takes a
period of time before I can go "All out" on the road without a degree of discomfort. This
may be a little offset by the fact that you plan on doing your long runs on the road.

~Matt

Matt,

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think I'm going to give it a try. I like the thought of pool
running strengthening the hip flexors, as this is where I get my hip pain. For me right now,
"running" my intervals in the pool is about my only option since speed work on the road leaves me
injured. Undoubtedly, speedwork on the road is the best way to gain speed, but that simply won't
work with my "biomechanical nightmare" of a body.

This will be a good experiment (I'm a research scientist), because I'm doing zero speed work on the
road, just easy distance. So, any increase in speed that I realize will have had to come from the
pool. I won't be able to pinpoint whether the intervals caused the increased speed or whether
working out in water resistance just strengthened my muscles so that they could do more when I raced
fast. Either way I'll be happy if there is improvement.

Thanks again. Tim

In article said:

MJuric wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Here's my results.

Quoted message said:

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think I'm going to give it a try. I like the thought of pool
running strengthening the hip flexors, as this is where I get my hip pain. For me right now,
"running" my intervals in the pool is about my only option since speed work on the road leaves me
injured. Undoubtedly, speedwork on the road is the best way to gain speed, but that simply won't
work with my "biomechanical nightmare" of a body.

btw i think you'd be crazy to race 5k if your AT problems prevent you from running intervals. A 5k
race combines enough distance to pound the hell out of the tendons, with enough speed to do the
same. Double ouch. Good luck.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi pegasus.rutgers.edu~elflordOpen ↗

Donovan Rebbechi <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

In article said:

MJuric wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Here's my results.

Quoted message said:

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think I'm going to give it a try. I like the thought of
pool running strengthening the hip flexors, as this is where I get my hip pain. For me right
now, "running" my intervals in the pool is about my only option since speed work on the road
leaves me injured. Undoubtedly, speedwork on the road is the best way to gain speed, but that
simply won't work with my "biomechanical nightmare" of a body.

btw i think you'd be crazy to race 5k if your AT problems prevent you from running intervals. A 5k
race combines enough distance to pound the hell out of the tendons, with enough speed to do the
same. Double ouch. Good luck.

Cheers,

Donovan,

As crazy as it sounds, an occasional fast run doesn't bother my achilles. But if I string together
several speed sessions, I injure myself. Hence, one 5K race a month isn't likely to do harm. So, my
plan is to do interval training in the pool, then test my speed in a 5K race. Not sure if it will
work, but I may give it a try, because there aren't too many other options for me.

Swithing off reality...... Maybe I'll get fast enough that the horizontal speed component will
allow me to only lightly touch the ground, thus not stressing any part of my body. But I fear for
the spectators health as the sonic boom goes off after exceeding the speed of sound. O.k. I
promise not to run that fast, but only because I don't want to hurt anyone..... Switching reality
back on. "Did that
9:00 minute pace seem fast to you....?"

Tim

In article said:

Donovan Rebbechi <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

btw i think you'd be crazy to race 5k if your AT problems prevent you from running intervals. A
5k race combines enough distance to pound the hell out of the tendons, with enough speed to do
the same. Double ouch. Good luck.

Cheers,

Quoted message said:

As crazy as it sounds, an occasional fast run doesn't bother my achilles. But if I string together
several speed sessions, I injure myself.

So don't "string together several speed sessions". Instead, do a relatively modest number of easier
speedwork and combine it with your pool running. Because the pool work will already allow you to
train your VO2 max, the only other speedwork you need pay attention to is running
economy/neuromuscular work.

I think you'll be able to get reasonably fast just by mixing in a few (say 4 or so) 200m repeats at
about your 800m pace (fast but not all-out sprints) in one of your ordinary runs about 3 days or so
from the race. You don't even need to do these every week -- just do two such sessions within a week
of the race. I've done this for similar reasons (achilles tendon problems). The 4x200 sessions were
much easier than a 4x1200m session, and I was able to run a reasonable 1 mile time with just one
such session plus my usual base work.

This sort of lightweight speedwork deals with the neuromuscular part of the equation (which the pool
work will *NOT* address) while minimising the training load. Meanwhile, you can use the pool work to
maintain your VO2 max.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi pegasus.rutgers.edu~elflordOpen ↗

"Donovan Rebbechi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Donovan, you read too much.

Love,

Roger.

Donovan Rebbechi <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

So don't "string together several speed sessions". Instead, do a relatively modest number of
easier speedwork and combine it with your pool running. Because the pool work will already allow
you to train your VO2 max, the only other speedwork you need pay attention to is running
economy/neuromuscular work.

I think you'll be able to get reasonably fast just by mixing in a few (say 4 or so) 200m repeats
at about your 800m pace (fast but not all-out sprints) in one of your ordinary runs about 3 days
or so from the race. You don't even need to do these every week -- just do two such sessions
within a week of the race. I've done this for similar reasons (achilles tendon problems). The
4x200 sessions were much easier than a 4x1200m session, and I was able to run a reasonable 1 mile
time with just one such session plus my usual base work.

This sort of lightweight speedwork deals with the neuromuscular part of the equation (which the
pool work will *NOT* address) while minimising the training load. Meanwhile, you can use the pool
work to maintain your VO2 max.

Cheers,

Interesting idea. I had nixed the idea of doing shorter intervals
(i.e. less than 400m) assuming that they'd be too short to do me much good. But, I can see how they
could be long enough to help me develop the running economy part. Since I've not tried
intervals this short, I don't know the effect it might have on my achilles. Thanks for the
suggestion, I may give it a try.

I've started adding pool running sessions to my normal running week. After warming up I do 60 sec.
as fast a I can followed by a 2 min. rest period, then repeat. I'll gradually increase the number as
my body adjusts. Man, those 60 sec. intervals are VERY tiring. My HR doesn't go as high as when I'm
running on land, but it's within 5-8 beats at the same perceived exertion level. My legs feel like
noodles when I crawl out of the pool, but by the next day they feel fully recovered. It looks like
pool running will allow me to work my tail off without the residual fatigue and soreness that my 46
year old body endures after some land runs. Now if I can just supplement that with some 200m
repeats...

Thanks again, Tim